Ever since fans of the show Family Guy demanded Fox resurrect the series from cancellation in 2005, it’s safe to say that the show’s creator, Seth MacFarlane, has had a stranglehold over all things comedy on Fox for the past 13 years. With other successful animated series like American Dad and the Family Guy spinoff The Cleveland Show, the network gave MacFarlane carte blanche to do pretty much whatever he liked after proving himself with the wild success of his signature show. That even allowed him to tackle and star in his live-action sci-fi throwback — and Star Trek parody — The Orville. With news that the show has been picked up for another voyage, here is everything we know about The Orville season 2.

What can we expect from The Orville season 2?

Unfortunately for fans of the show, the first season had been cut short one episode from 12 to 11. That cut episode — called "Primal Urges" — is set to be among the episodes in The Orville season 2. MacFarlane also told Slash Film that the second season would lean heavily on the sci-fi aspects of the show and not rely too much on comedy relief.

“The show was experimental in a lot of ways,” he explained. Adding “tone was the biggest experimental part of it. What we found was that we can lean a little more heavier into the science fiction and not have to worry so much about knocking out a joke every page.

The show is an hour and really can and wants to service its storytelling in a way that makes it a priority. The jokes come as they come, the comedy comes as it comes.”

The Orville season 2 cast

The second season will have the same returning cast including MacFarlane as Captain Ed Mercer and Adrianne Pilecki as his ex-wife and co-worker Commander Kelly Grayson but will also have some additional series regulars. Deadline reports that actor Chris Johnson of 47 Meters down and Gossip Girl star Jessica Szohr will be joining the crew for The Orville season 2.

On another interesting note, Deadline also reported that Szohr's Gossip Girl castmate Leighton Meester will also make an appearance on the show but her role — as well as Johnson and Szoher's roles — are being kept under wraps for now. For now, we simply know that Johnson's character will be named "Cassius" and Szoher's will be named "Talla".

MacFarlane was able to use his pull in Hollywood to get some big name stars in season one like Charlize Theron and Liam Neeson, so it would be safe to expect some celebrity sightings from around the galaxy in The Orville season 2.

The Orville season 2 release date

To avoid scheduling conflicts with Fox’s fall football coverage, The Orville season 2 will premiere on Sunday December 30 so that fans can enjoy the adventure with limited interputptions. MacFarlane recently told TVGuide.com that the season would be about 14 episodes and that he would "rather do fewer episodes and have them be better content-wise than do 22 and have them be filler."